Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 28, 2026.
Montgomery County, North Carolina, has about 26,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and five city agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Montgomery County Superior Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Montgomery County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Montgomery County
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Montgomery County. It reported 626 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists five cities in Montgomery County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Troy, 2,978 residents: 91 arrests reported for 2025.
- Biscoe, 1,895 residents: 49 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mount Gilead, 1,185 residents: 25 arrests reported for 2025.
- Candor, 823 residents: 35 arrests reported for 2025.
- Star, 822 residents: 28 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Montgomery County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Montgomery County Sheriff's Office: 626 for 2025, 743 for 2024, 733 for 2023, 856 for 2022, 999 for 2021 and 661 for 2020.
- Troy: 91 for 2025, 66 for 2024, 69 for 2023, 94 for 2022, 100 for 2021 and 118 for 2020.
- Biscoe: 49 for 2025, 49 for 2024, 69 for 2023, 166 for 2022, 167 for 2021 and 309 for 2020.
- Candor: 35 for 2025, 29 for 2023, 15 for 2022, 29 for 2021 and 22 for 2020; 2024 is missing months.
- Star: 28 for 2025, 19 for 2024, 11 for 2023, 10 for 2022, 15 for 2021 and 9 for 2020.
- Mount Gilead: 25 for 2025, 73 for 2024, 105 for 2023, 44 for 2022, 57 for 2021 and 69 for 2020.
Together, the six agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 854 arrests that year. The five of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 819 in 2025 against 950 in 2024, down 14 percent.
Through May 2026, the five agencies with every month so far on file reported 373 arrests, against 324 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Montgomery County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Montgomery County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 74 people, down from about 98 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 106 beds, and it ran at 92 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office at mcsojail.countygovservices.com/Home/CurrentInmates (page title: Current Inmates | Montgomery County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, whose inmate locator is at dac.nc.gov/dac-services/criminal-offender-searches.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Montgomery County
Whether someone was arrested in Montgomery County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Montgomery County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at nccourts.gov/locations/montgomery-county).
Statewide, eCourts Portal is the North Carolina Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
North Carolina does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Montgomery County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the North Carolina Public Records Act the agency must answer as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Troy, Biscoe, Mount Gilead, Candor or Star: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Montgomery County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/montgomery-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Montgomery County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the five cities in Montgomery County: Troy, Biscoe, Mount Gilead, Candor and Star.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Montgomery County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Montgomery County each year?
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office reported 626 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the six agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 854 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Montgomery County?
Look on the custody page of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office at mcsojail.countygovservices.com. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Montgomery County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Montgomery County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Montgomery County Superior Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the North Carolina Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Montgomery County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the North Carolina Public Records Act the answer is due as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days.
Is this the official Montgomery County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.